This invention relates to the dyeing of textiles such as carpets and the like in general, and more particularly to an improved method of dyeing such textiles such as to provide random patterns on the textile through control of the dye application.
It has been recognized that carpets and the like, dyed with a single color with varying tone patterns can provide a quite desirable visual effect. Such carpets can be particularly attractive when the color tone variations thereon have an apparently randomly varying effect. This type of carpet dyeing has been commonly designated as "space dyeing." One method and an apparatus for carrying out such space dyeing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,649. In the apparatus disclosed therein, a roller is emersed in a trough of dye and rotated therein to pick up a film of dye. The film of dye on the roller is scraped off by a downwardly inclined doctor blade which is formed with channels so that the scraped off dye film leaves the doctor blade in a plurality of individual jets. The carpet to be dyed is moved below the jets with a grid or the like placed between the jets and the carpet and the grid being provided with an oscillating or continual lateral motion. The result is that the streams or individual jets are broken up by the grid to form a large plurality of droplets. Furthermore, it is disclosed that the V-shaped channels may be mounted for oscillation back and forth. As a result, the two oscillation patterns are superimposed upon each other to result in various amounts of dye being dropped on the carpet to achieve an apparently random pattern. A further example of this type of apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,503.
Although these previous methods and apparatus associated therewith have operated quite satisfactorily, there is a continuing requirement for increased variation in the types of patterns in which carpets and the like are made and thus, there is a need for improved methods which permit even greater variation than is possible in these prior art devices.